Inspired by Red Kites

P.S.

Just after I had posted my last blog, all to do with birds and food, I was sent a superb photograph which you are fortunate I am sharing with you. It is of a standard worthy of publications far superior to my blog, but I got it first.

To continue the food saga, it is not uncommon to see photographs of Puffins with a beak full of up to 10 sand eels. What is so clever, is that a Puffin does not have jaws like ours (ie “hinged” inside at the back) but they have an expanding hinge which enables the bird to open its upper and lower beaks in parallel and thus hold a row of eels. 

If you look at the following Photograph I took on the Farne Islands in 2007, the orange at the base of the bill is like an elastic joint.

     

So with a hinged jaw like ours, you would not expect a normal garden bird to have much carrying capacity, until you see the next photograph. It was taken by Julian Turner this month, at RHS Wisley gardens in Surrey.

              

The amount  of food being carried is remarkable, no doubt destined for a family in a nest nearby.

Well, it’s Monday 11^th July and I’m struggling for bird news, so I’m reverting to some nostalgia!

Although when we moved to Derby in the seventies, and lived in a house backing onto Allestree golf course, it was hard work getting the children to have any interest in birds. When we moved Sarah and Michael were only 7 and 5 respectively, so it was understandable.

I must admit I was not as enthusiastic as I am now, but with the golf course and the woods, it was a good environment for our avian friends and there was plenty of evidence. We were quite used to hearing the Woodpeckers tapping away in the woods, and managed to spot Great Spotted Woodpeckers from time to time. Lesser Spotted were, and still are, known to frequent the park, but they have become rarer in recent years.

Our back garden had its rarities. I can recall Michael saying “that’s a strange looking Chaffinch”, and indeed it was… what he had spotted was a Brambling, who are known to cohabit with Chaffinches.

A Sparrowhawk mantling a sparrow on the grass was a real education for the children, as was the Peacock which decided to enter by the back gate. In days gone by, Allestree Park had a large pen of exotic birds (Peacocks, Muscovey, Guinea Fowl etc) and this male decided to go walk abouts… and which was quite a long walk from our house.

One frustration was the night I could see the silhouette of an Owl on the bird table, a Tawney I suspect, silhouetted against the dark sky, but by the time I could get my bins it had flown.

2 house moves later we are where we are today, and being quite dense with houses, the only hi-light in 18 years has been a Red Legged Partridge strutting round the patio.

But rewards come to those who are patient, and with my grandson Leo readily warming to a Buzzzzard (his posh version) the Derby-Pair-a-Greens, and loving the Great Crested Grebes, I think I am at last getting somewhere.

When my son rings from near Corby and asks what is the large red bird with a forked tail, and which flew straight into a garden when the owner through some food out, I’ve got him interested!!   2 days later, and he rings again to say that he went out of the front door, and there were 2 Red Kites overhead.

My daughter has been taught the skill of using our bird counter (clicker) and 10 days ago counted c28 Kites on the M40 on the way to Weybridge. Yesterday, on the way to a pop concert at Rockingham, south of Rutland Water yesterday, she saw 4 red kites ….. and in the course of the concert she could see occasional Red Kites overhead.

I think I’m at last bequeathing some bird knowledge to future generations!

....And it's all been worth while!!